Decoding Mouse Brain Signals to See and Hear Like Them

Researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a machine-learning algorithm that can decode a mouse’s brain signals and reproduce images of what it’s seeing. The algorithm, called CEBRA, was trained on a black and white movie clip from the 1960s of a man running to a car and then opening its trunk. CEBRA was able to correctly identify specific frames the mouse was seeing as it watched and generate matching frames that were a near-perfect match. The research potentially paves the way for improvements in how we study both human and animal brains and how we understand the brain’s reactions to visual and other stimuli.